Marzel Mierzejewski

Marzel is a brother to my grandfather, Wladyslaw Mierzejewski. I’ve been trying to track the siblings of my grandparents, Helena and Wladyslaw Mierzejewski. As far as I know, Wladyslaw had these siblings:

Wladyslaw’s siblings (through his mother Anna Budziszewska–his father, Jan, was married three times):

Franciszek, born about 1868

Franciczeka, born about 1868 (twins?)

Ludwik, born about 1871

Jozef, born about 1874

Marzel, born about 1881

Wladyslaw was the youngest of the children born to Jan and Anna, born in 1883 per his death certificate. (Side note: Again, it’s becoming a theme in my family–the birth date on his gravestone is different. His gravestone says 1877 was the year of birth. However, I am certain that this is the correct gravesite–we visited it as children with my parents each Easter, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day and I’ve verified the burial.)

Jan also married Anna’s elder sister and that marriage produced one son:

Ignacy

I cannot yet ascertain the order of the marriages to the Budziszewska sisters . So the best guess for Ignacy’s date of birth is likely between 1861 and 1868 OR after 1881, as Jan’s first marriage was to Eleanor Guszkowska and this marriage produced a daughter:

Konstancja, born about 1861

I’ve been running into the usual brick walls attempting to locate these siblings. We do know that several of the siblings came to the US only to return to Poland. I have found evidence of Marzel’s residence in the US, however.

A 1907 manifest from the Hamburg Passenger Lines indicates that Marzel is a passenger on a ship that landed in New York in January 1907. Careful inspection of this record indicates several Mierzejewskis were on this ship (note the name is spelled using a derivative spelling: Mizejewski):

Stanislaw Mizejewski, age 19 (residence, Guczin)

Stefan Mizejewski, age 17 (residence, Danisiewo)

Marzel Mizejewski, age 25 (residence, Jarnuti)

Danisiewo is just north of Tomasze and Jarnuti and Gucin is just south of Tomasze and Jarnuti–perhaps there is a connection to Marzel with Stanislaw and Stefan. Remember, there is a Stanislaw Mizejewski buried in Toledo’s Calvary Cemetery. He was born per the gravestone about 1891. My grandfather’s place of birth was Tomasze, so it’s likely that he had relatives who had settled in nearby villages. See this map.

There are no clues where Marzel or the other two men would have been after their 1907 arrival. It’s clear though that Marzel returned to Poland for a short while because there is another manifest, this time from Ellis Island dated November 1909 that clearly indicates he was traveling to the United States with Wladyslaw and it is clear the two are brothers. The contact information for the near relative from the country they came from is noted as Helena Mierzejewski. Helena is noted as Wladyslaw’s wife and as Marzel’s sister-in-law.

Now this raises not only one eyebrow for me, but both. The final destination for Wladyslaw was noted as New Bedford, Massachusetts. For Marzel, it is noted as Pittsfield, Massachussets. This in and of itself isn’t too surprising. But the 1910 census data places Marzel in Cleveland, Ohio!

Marzel is a boarder of the Gorgon family and it specifically states that his year of immigration was 1907. He is employed as a laborer in a car shop. Where is Wladyslaw?! I haven’t yet located him on a census for this period. It’s possible he returned to Poland, but this is a relatively short period of time (arrival was November 1909 and census taken in April 1910)–likely he’s in the US somewhere!

Marzel eventually returned to Poland, where he died in 1965. He was married to a woman named Czeslawa and three children:

Jadwiga

Thadeusz

Henryka

If anyone has any additional information, please contact me. Leave a comment here or drop me an email and I’ll follow up.